Lockheed Martin could deliver up to 100 more C-130Js plus services and support equipment to US and foreign customers under a new contracting vehicle awarded on 19 August.
The five year ordering contract (FYOC) accommodates orders placed by international and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) tells FlightGlobal.
The contracting vehicle also could include new orders from the US government, the AFLCMC says.
The FYOC is the second major acquisition announcement involving the C-130J in the last eight months.
Last December, the USAF also ordered 78 C-130Js under a $5.4 billion multi-year procurement (MYP) deal, covering deliveries through Fiscal 2018. That contract includes options to buy up to 10 more aircraft, including five for the US Coast Guard and five for the US military.
Any orders placed under the FYOC deal would come on top of the MYP contract, the AFLCMC says. Such orders would include “Congressional Adds and Plus Ups, above and beyond what is in the MYP." The FYOC also includes services, such as repairs and upgrades, for C-130Js purchased under the multi-year deal.
The total value of the FYOC can not exceed $10.02 billion, according to the Defense Department’s award notice. The unit acquisition price of a C-130J is around $80-85 million.
The USAF has awarded FYOC deals for international and Congressoinal add-on C-130J purchases in the past, but this one is structured differently. Unlike the four previous FYOC deals for the C-130J programme, the latest structure uses an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity format. The ID/IQ structure was selected because of the high number of engineering changes and the number of customers supported by the C-130J programme office.
“Converting to an ID/IQ helps better organize and manage contract actions,” the AFLCMC says.
Lockheed has delivered 182 C-130Js and 50 KC-130Js to the USMC so far, including six total delivered already under the latest MYP contract, leaving the company a firm order backlog of 72 of the four-engined tactical airlifters.
The US military still wants more C-130Js in the inventory beyond the deliveries in the MYP. Budget documents released in January show the USAF has a requirement to buy 172 C-130Js and 131 combined AC-, MC- and HC-130Js for US Special Operations Command. The USAF also orders C-130Js from Lockheed on behalf of the Navy and the Marine Corps, which have a requirement to buy a total of 104 KC-130Js.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
